NEWSLETTER DATE: DECEMBER, 2022

INTRODUCTION TO INES
The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) is used
for promptly and consistently communicating to the public the safety
significance of events associated with sources of radiation. It covers a wide
spectrum of practices, including industrial use such as radiography, use of
radiation sources in hospitals, activities at nuclear facilities and the transport
of radioactive material. By putting events from all these practices into a proper
perspective, use of INES can facilitate a common understanding between the
technical community, the media and the public
Events are classified on INES at seven levels: Levels 4- 7 are termed as
"Accidents" and Levels 1-3 as "Incidents". Events without safety significance
Special points of
are classified as "Below Scale/Level O". Events that have no safety relevance interest:
with respect to radiation or nuclear safety are not classified on the side. • Introduction to
INES

)> • Principles
n
n criteria
5 ACCIDENT WITH 0 • INES rating of Past
WIDER CONSEQUENCES
.----"~;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;~..,,...

4 ACCIDENT WITH LOCAL Accidents

CONSEQUENCES

z
n
2 INCIDENT
0
m
1 ANOMALY z
-I
Below Scale I Level 0
NO SAFETY SIGNIFICATION

PRINCIPLES OF INES C
Each event needs to be considered aga"ns lie oUow· g relevant areas:
1) Impact on People and the nvironme t
The impact on people and the en~ent can be localized (i.e. radiation
doses to one or a few people close tO"the location of the eventt or wides read as
in the release of radioactive material from an installation).
2) Impact on Radiological Barriers and ~trols
The impact on radiological barriers and controls at faciliti~
relevant to facilities handling major quantities of radioactive material such as
power reactors, reprocessing facilities, large research reactors or large source
production facilities. It covers events such as reactor core melt and the spillage
of significant quantities of radioactive material resulting from failures of radio-
logical barriers, thereby threatening the safety of people and the environment.
3) Degradation of Defence in depth
Reduction in defence in de t rincipally covers those events with no actual
consequences, but where the measures put in place to prevent or cope with
accidents did not oper teas intended.
Major eve t reported to IA.EA since July 2021
Hungary: Exposure of Worker over Annual Statuary· Dose Limit (INES Rating 2)
Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority reporetd an incident to IAEA in which a radiograpber worker was
performing radiographic testing with industrial X-ray machine. During the activity between explosions the
worker had to enter the explosion area and only when he returned to X-ray machine he reali that the X-ray
machine was not switched off. During the exposure the worker received a dose of 25.8 mSv. The incident was
awarded INES rating of 2.
UnJted Kingdom: Automatic trip of both reactors fo11owing loss of off-site electric supplies
(INES Rating l)
Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR), UK reported an incident following failure of National Grid transformer,
which was located Offsite. Heyshaml experienced complete loss of 400kV power supply. Both reactors were
erating at nominal power prior to the incident, however, both tripped automatically. Acfequate post Cuv1rUJ.•.-..

s established by automatic start of one Emergency Boiler Feed Pump (EBFP). The Limits and Conditions ot
op ration (LCO) require a1ninimum of two EBFPs to be available when reactors are operating.at powdr. 'There
ere four EBFPs on site, one was out of service for maintenance and the two other EBFPs were .shutdown,
during their start sequences. L~O remained unsatisfied for 45 minutes. The incident was awarded INES rating- _
of2.
Sweden: Exposur of workers in excess of statutory annual dose limit (INES Rating 2)
Tw rkers were ying out a pipe inspection using portable X-ray generator. While trying to start up the X-
ray generator after adjusting some parameters, the workers realized that the device was already on. The workers
could not remember exactly when the X-ray generator had been started and they had been in its vicinity. The
workers may have received an effective dose of 44 mSv. The incident was ded INES rating of 2.
Ukraine Crisis: Declaration of Martial Law
On February 24, 2022, Marti I law was imposed on whole ter to of Ukraine for a period of 30 days as Russia
launcJ;ied a military operation in Ukraine. The State of Nuclear egulat ry Inspectorate of Ukraine has issued 45
revisions (till September, 2 22) of Event Notice Form (ENF) to inform IAEA about the situation update
regarding its uclear Faciliti . All fadilities of Chernobyl NPP were taken uuder control by Russian Military.
However, onsite personnel continued to perform there duties without rotation. Re~ry Control over nuclear
and radiation safe :it Chemoby NPP site and in Exclusion Zone was impossible to exercise. Automated
onitoring System became dysfunctional on February 24, 2022.
a ch 4th, 2022 Russian Military forces shelled Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) site, as a result of
which fire broke out at ;ZNP.P site. Due to excessive shelling in August 2022, multiple mechanical damages to walls,
roof, window openings, pipeline of chemical desalinated water were observed and communication line were also
disconnected. There was disconnection from external power supply line as a result of which Unit 5 of ZNPP was
disconnected from the grid and emergency protection was triggered. Resultantly, s put on the supply of its
own needs. It was difficult to assess the damage in conditions of shelling.
- -- -- -- -- ~

INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR EVENT SCALE (INES)

INES Statistics
As per IAEA statistics, 53 incidents have been reported to IAEA from July 2021 to
Fu Kus HIM A September 2022 via Event Rating form (ERF) and Event Notice Eorm (ENF). Out of
Accident in these 53 incidents, 45 incidents were related to Ukraine Crisis, } i,ncident were from
March 2011 and
C h e r n 0 b y 1 Sweden. Moreover, 2 incidents were reported from Hungary ana one incident was
accident in 1986 reported from UK, France and Mexico each.
was rated as
Level 7 accident
on INES Scale INES events reported to IAEA from July 2021 to
September 2022
50
45
45
40
Three Mile ~ 35
Island Incident ~ 30
u
in 1979 was -= 25
'+-
rated as Level 0 20
0
5 accident on z 15

-
:::.-
INES Scale 10
5
0
Ukraine
3

Sweden - 2

Hungary UK Mexico

Countries where incidents were reported

France

INES Event Ratin

In order to communications for events

Kyshtym
disaster in 195 7 whicu...10°PU111n
was rated as
Level 6 accident
on INES Scale. communicate events to the technical commlinity as w
public. ERF is available on USIE website
National Officer.

INES ERF consists of information related to event titl~Jaft!?­

e, event description, rating justification and IN

~'9111!~,,.,,...---
 INES Sub
INES sub groups, regarding rating of events, have been identified on the basis of INES criteria as mentioned
on Page 1. These are mentioned in INES ERF as follow.ing :

Sr. INES Criteria Sub Groups

No
a. Release beyond authorized
1. limits
Impact on People and the Environ-
• • ment b. Overexposure of a member of
the public
c. Overexposure of a worker
a. Contamination spread within
2. the facility
Impact on the Radiological Barriers
and Controls at facilities b. Damage to radiological barri-
ers within the facility
_...tj
I
3. Degradation of Defence in Depth
<I
f
' During the reporte period i.e July 2021-September 2022, six events have been reported with INES rating
2.:::n!ltli~~~· , • gainst INES criteria mentioned in ERF. Two events fall in the category of Impact on the People and
Environment and four events have been reported due to Degaradation ofDefence in Depth.

Occurance of events as per INES Criteria

July 2021- Sep 2022
Impa ct on
People and

Degradation of
Defence In
Impact on the
Depth
Radiological
67%
ba rrri ers and
controls at
facilities
0%
iii Impact on People and Environment
8 Impact on the Radiological barrriers and controls at facilities
8 Degradation of Defence In Depth

and followed for performing